In honor of my milestone 1000th post (this is it) I figured this is a good time to do my full ride report.

I had been dreading the ride ever since our attempt to ride to the village was thwarted by the closed gate. That last time as soon as we turned off of Boulder Springs where we parked, I knew I was in trouble as my heart rate and breathing got way out of control on that first climb just getting to the gate. Others had suggested that I may have been mentally defeated at that point. Very possible. I struggled mightily to just get to the shack that day. My first attempt to the shack took about 2 hours and 3 min per my Strava data. The attempt on 9/1 took me more than half an hour MORE...and think that is just riding time? Not sure...if that time includes all the time I was stopped getting my heart and breathing under control and talking myself into continuing on.

So based on this anxiety I decided to look at what I did pre-ride for the first attempt and do those things again. So I got a massage on Friday (which I had done pre Aug 5 ride). I had a good pasta dinner (spaghetti) the night before. In addition to the stuff I duplicated from the first ride: I ate a peanute butter and jelly sandwich and drank a glass of chocolate milk at home before leaving the house and I warmed up after getting to the start point. I cruised around the neighborhood to get my legs warmed up a bit.

Me - self portrait pre-ride - not exactly exuding confidence:

I was still very nervous and anxious that I would have a tough time and everyone would leave me behind. My initial plan was to LEAVE before everyone else so that wouldn't happen...that is how scared I was of having another bad day. That plan went out the window tho and I am so glad I waited to go with the group.

No pre-ride speeches this time...all of us had ridden to the shack previously and we were now considered "Veterans"... We even sort of waited at the red light...before Alyce gave the "all clear" and we proceeded to go thru it. Got going and I had thought I had turned on my GoPro to get our start but as we are climbing the hill...I heard it beep at me which I realized meant it was turning off due to inactivity. I had turned it on but it didn't register me hitting the record button. I tried to tinker with it while rolling but only managed to pop the clamp holding the door in place off....I had to stop to put that back on and get reset. Firefly stopped to check on me and we had a nice chat as we caught up to the group.

So that first hill leading up to the gate was the tip-off of my struggle on 9/1...yesterday? I felt GREAT! Heart rate was in a good zone and my breathing was even and not a struggle to get enough air and legs felt fresh.

Felt good enough after passing the gate while we were still pretty well grouped up to get my camera out...I'm not quite as good as Beanz:

I even got AHEAD of the group at one point and was able to take some pics of them climbing:

I was feeling unbelievably capable yesterday. I just kept "pushing a rock" as Nusince would say. I wasn't even thinking about it...I had found a good rythmn or something and was just DOING IT. I got to the shack in a PR (ok I've only done it three times but I did it in 1 hour and 51 minutes per Strava and previous best was 12 minutes slower).

So we move on to the next stage of our Clyde/Athena GMR / GRR Tour de Village....I didn't want to wait any longer so I took off after Alyce with these instructions: When given a choice of where to go...GO UP. Ok...how hard can it be? So off I go trailing Alyce (who is one steady rider!) and she gets ahead of me (she knows where she is going having been here and done it). I got concerned at one point as I lost sight of her and wondered if somehow I "missed" where I needed to go despite not having had any options...so I pulled off in a turnout to get my bearings and see around the corner the spot I was looking for...where I choose to GO UP. Evenutally the rest of the gang catches up to me and Alyce (caught her at the next SAG point).

Speaking of SAG...I am so incredibly thankful for AHultin and his wife for providing the ride support vehicle.

We stopped at one point to admire the view of Mt Baldy and GRR:

I was beginning to feel the climbing and just kept focused on keeping my heart rate and breathing in a good spot and to just keep pedaling. It was hot too in the sun but the shady spots felt sooooo good. Those who have done the ride to the village before gave us rookies the scoop on the last nasty long climb of about 3 miles before we would reach the village. That helped to mentally get thru that section for sure. It also helped doing it as a group for the most part. We would each go our own pace and sort of regroup at the SAG truck which Mrs. AHultin would move forward about every two miles...so we had an oasis to look forward to on the climbing portions to keep us going. SO invaluable, I cannot even express how much that helped.

Eventually we reached the top of the last climb before "THE VILLAGE" and we stopped to take some photos.

Believe me was NOT smiling on the way back up to this point after leaving the Village.... There seemed to be way too much climbing on the return ... somehow I didn't recall so many descents ....

For me it was a great feeling making it to the village but an even better feeling not slowing the group down and making everyone wait on me or worry about me. Yes it was painful at times....but it was a GOOD pain. I am grateful for being able to achieve this with such a great group of people.

I got video with my GoPro and will make a video or two and share later.

My side of the story ha ha! Well I say the weather was perfect. I've done the village on HOT days and today was nice IMO. We had a great group about 11 riders. We were expecting 16 but gas prices may have played a part in the no shows. Can't blame them for that, gas prices suck!

So we head out from Boulder Springs with some serious riders among the group. AHultin in the group. I hate to dwell on his weight but I am so amazed at his determination to do the big rides. Last week a century with some climbing and this week, 4300+ feet elevation gain in 21 miles. Impressive for any ride but for the Big Dude, pretty darn impressive. What I like about this guy, the fact that I often preach to other Clydes that they can climb, do the big climbs if they have the desire. There are the whiners that complain "I'm too big blah blah blah" and those that do. Aaron should be in the Nike commercials....JUST DO IT!!!

Also in the group, PhotoJoe. I remember this dude sending me a personal message thanking me for the ride reports etc as he had intentions of riding GMR once he kicked cancer's arse! Mmmkay, so this dude fought an aggressive cancer, had his hammy removed and he thinks he's going to do GMR? I know other riders that cheesed out of the ride because they had a pimple on their butts but this dude? The dude is now the ride leader. No freaking excuses, no crying! He's out there proving to others that they can conquer, and he did!

BeachGrad05. To be honest, when she first started posting about an attempt on GMR, I figured she'd give it a try but like too many other riders that dream of doing the ride, I figured sh'ed do the first mile then say see ya! But holy shmoly she did the shack her first time. I must say, not one of those all talk types, she got herself up the hill! The last time up to the shack, she didn't do so well as she'd tell you herself. But she fought to make her way that day and if you had asked me to bet she wouldn't show at the shack that day, I could have lost a bundle. Not too many riders will fight that hard to make it, but she did! So the village ride, I was a bit worried about her. But about a week before the ride she posted a picture of herself on the forum and my gosh, she's been making some serious gains. So she shows up the day of the village ride and once again, holy shmoly! She cruised up the climb. Of course we never know the effort a rider puts into a ride when they look so comfy so I can't say it wasn't tough but she made it look somewhat easy. She says Alyce is a consistent roller up the climb but the two looked neck and neck. Heck, Alyce has been doing some workouts and looking good! Between the two, it was a show watching them ride up the climb.

We had some other guys, JeepSeaHawk who swears he's not a climber but did very well this day. TrojanHorse, dude makes it look too easy but does a great job of encouraging and motivating others up the mountain. Herb, Alyce's man. He usually makes it look pretty easy and also rides as support as motivation but this day, Alyce seemed to be on a roll so if I had to bet, sorry Herb, HA HA! Another guy along for the ride was PhotoJoes buddy Eric. You can tell this guy is a good climber, so why did he show? Motivation an support.He wasn't sure if we had a support vehicle so he offered to carry a mussette (sp?) filled with spare water bottles for the group. Wow, talk about a team player, that would be like riding the TDF ha ha!

Gina? Oh wow, there's a story in itself. I often tell others Gina can be a crabby rider while suffering. This day, she was! Being off the bike too much the last few weeks I figured it would be best if she sat out. She refused but after 3 or 4 miles she was suffering. I myself expected this figured she'd work into a groove after being off the bike two weeks. Later in the ride, she did seem to come around some. But once we hit that tough section 4 miles before the village, she popped! She was crying and at the same time pissed at me. That was where I got the DON'T EVER, EVER INVITE ME ON THIS RIDE AGAIN speech. I told her look, calm down, you know you've been here before and if you turn back now, you'll find that you are only a hops, skip, and a jump from the section that eases up. I really did expect her to give up but she got back on the bike and fought it to the end. She did have the state of mind to only call me 4 letter words when others weren't around so I knew she was still in her right mind....somewhere ha ha! After the ride she was not happy with her performance but hey, any 21 mile climb with 4300 ain't no walk in the park for anybody!

So let's see, we got this group of riders fighting against their advantages. That is pretty darn respectable in my book. Riders that don't boast about dropping others on the downhill with an advantage. But riders fighting to do that goes against everything they are told the day the sit on the bike for the first time!

23 miles with 5300 feet (my Garmin). 4300 feet being in the first 21 miles ain't no joke! These guys and gals don't talk the talk, they walk the walk! It's always cool to be part of a group like this! ;-)

At the start of the ride, we did get a brief visit with Pain Freak. Along with a little sample of his singing ha ha! At the village Gina and I ran into Ray Clone. OUCH! Crashed a while back, broken pelvis and some stitches but Ray, he's always in a good friendly mood when we meet. Nice to see him again, even if it's on crutches.

Special thanks to Mrs. AHultin for the support! Great job with the hydration and snacks. Not to mention the floor pump, I know I really appreciated it on the ride ha ha! Darn flat!

Beanz...Please tell Gina that she is one of the reasons I felt capable of attempting this ride in the first place...along with Alyce. Those two ladies gave me hope about my ability to do this. I watched a few of your GMR rides after first hearing about GMR when I signed up for the Big Ring Metric. I hope she doesn't really mean she doesn't want to ride to the village again.

I hope to do it again (tho after a bit of a break LOL)

Maybe a New Years Eve day ride like you guys did last year? Wonder if I should just pull a PhotoJoe and set it up and sign everyone up now.

I agree, I look forward to doing it again, but hope to do some other rides before that. I do think a 60 mile SART ride would be good. Heck, we just did 43 miles, all uphill (so it felt). I think we could all do a 60 mile flat ride.

Beanz you're great at cheerleading all the riders, but don't forget that you're the one that encouraged us all into doing it in the first place. I wonder how many people you've conned.....'er....convinced to tackle the beast. I'll bet the list is LONG!

For anyone who thinks Sunday was a good warmup for a better ride, the SoCal forum is putting together a Crystal Lake/Dawson's Saddle ride in a few weeks. That's only 70 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing. I would go, but I'm changing the air in my tires that day!

Beanz...Please tell Gina that she is one of the reasons I felt capable of attempting this ride in the first place...along with Alyce. Those two ladies gave me hope about my ability to do this. I watched a few of your GMR rides after first hearing about GMR when I signed up for the Big Ring Metric. I hope she doesn't really mean she doesn't want to ride to the village again.

I hope to do it again (tho after a bit of a break LOL)

Maybe a New Years Eve day ride like you guys did last year? Wonder if I should just pull a PhotoJoe and set it up and sign everyone up now.

Hahaha! .....She'll do it again someday. I've ben thru this many times. Been called every four letter word in the book starting with "F" and I don't mean "FRED"

She gets grumpy, grouchy but afer the suffering is over, she's giggles about it. Like in the video a the village when I ask her if she feels better, she starts laughing. Glad she and Alyce could motivate you, you did great!

I agree, I look forward to doing it again, but hope to do some other rides before that. I do think a 60 mile SART ride would be good. Heck, we just did 43 miles, all uphill (so it felt). I think we could all do a 60 mile flat ride.

Beanz you're great at cheerleading all the riders, but don't forget that you're the one that encouraged us all into doing it in the first place. I wonder how many people you've conned.....'er....convinced to tackle the beast. I'll bet the list is LONG!

For anyone who thinks Sunday was a good warmup for a better ride, the SoCal forum is putting together a Crystal Lake/Dawson's Saddle ride in a few weeks. That's only 70 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing. I would go, but I'm changing the air in my tires that day!

Beanz you're great at cheerleading all the riders, but don't forget that you're the one that encouraged us all into doing it in the first place. I wonder how many people you've conned.....'er....convinced to tackle the beast. I'll bet the list is LONG!

Awesome pics (well, except for the spiders. i'm deathly afraid of them LOL) and great ride descriptions. I can barely tackle a highway overpass, so me trying something like that would just be me signing my death certificate LOL. Great job guys and gals!!!

Awesome pics (well, except for the spiders. i'm deathly afraid of them LOL) and great ride descriptions. I can barely tackle a highway overpass, so me trying something like that would just be me signing my death certificate LOL. Great job guys and gals!!!

Just about every rider in the video said that at one time or another and now.............Hmmm?

I was pretty relaxed going into this ride as I had mentally set very reasonable expectations on myself. The goal: Make it to the village. No time limit, no speed min, just make it. Going into this ride my previous best elevation gain was about 3800ft (and that was over 60 miles) so 4300 over 21 miles was going to be a chore but a chore i felt was do-able. The alarm went off at 0500, damn early for a Sunday morning! Sebastian felt the same and decided he wasn't riding today! Just in case I threw his gear and bike in the truck. Shortly after 6 we began our 80 mile trek to climb a mountain. We arrived right at 8 and most everyone was there and ready to go (Albeit trojanhorse arrived after us so I didn't feel as bad )
We started up the climb shortly after 8 and all was right and well. The first 8 miles was fairly uneventful as we had all done it before and knew what to expect. Everyone looked good and we shaved a few minutes off of our previous times. We all arrived at the shack within a few minutes of eachother which was awesome. This is the point at which Sebastian saw all the "fun" we where having and decided to join us (well actually, I think it was the point that he no longer wanted to work on his homework, you see I kinda stacked the deck by bringing his math homework )
After a brief rest and a Beanz speech, we where off. I had my mind wrapped around the climb from the Beanz speech, Mile 14 to 17 but there was quite a few climbs other than that! About mile 16 my left knee was starting to act out defiantly. I think my muscles where sill somewhat fatigued from my century the previous weekend so my knee was doing more duty than normal. Lucky for me Herb had some advil which helped to take the edge off. from here it was climbing and climbing and more climbing. Based on the return trip there were some descents in there, but I dont remember them! About 19 miles in we hit a stiff headwind but it was okay because we were almost done. 21 miles in and we could see the promised land, all we had left was a fast descent into the village. A quick photo op and we where on our way down into the village but once there we still had another climb up to the lodge. We stopped and some of us decided to grab a quick bite. At this point I was analyzing options, I had committed to the village and had made it so do i SAG out or try to make the return trip?? Sebastian was clearly going thru the same thought process. Lunch arrived quite late but I think that lateness and break was what was needed to endure the return trip. Sebastian gave the thumbs up to proceed so I couldnt very well let him go alone. I instructed the wife to proceed 2 miles out at a time so we always had a backup. Lucky for us those two miles ended up each being AFTER a climb! The first hill, that wonderful descent into the village, was a grinder. My garmin read as high as 13% grade and while trojanhorse never heard it, this is where I got an earful from Sebastian. We climbed for what seemed like forever. Sebastian was going to bail the next time we saw mom but each time we saw her it preceded a descent so why bail at that point About half way in we caught up with Beanz and Gina as Beanz had a flat. We arrived at the shack at about an hour in and to our surprize the rest of the gang was there waiting. This was effectively the end, it was all downhill from here! The descent felt wonderful and as we pulled onto Boulder springs the feeling of success was awesome. 43 miles and 5300 plus feet, exceeded my highest daily elevation gain by over 1500 feet and survived to ride again!

the last climb is optional for sure. You will save about 15 miles/3kft of gain if you bypass it, there is one kicker out of the valley before a nice 12-15min decent back to the cars. We always park at Harrah's casino overflow lot along the main road (good prime rib buffet there).

The 1st climb is what will make or break you. 13miles and 4400ft, flat spot half way up right before the fork and that only last 100yards or so before it goes back to 6-8%... First 5 miles is through the orange groves, not many turns but still in grannyish gear since this is your warm up. After the fork it will feel like lower GMR with tighter turns all the way to 5000ft sign http://app.strava.com/segments/638810

TH, you can buy them by the slice or whole. ala mode style and all. I don't recommend getting the Apple Cider, it is really strong and will turn ur stomach inside out when you pedal again. Not personal experience but a friend did that on a ride out there and he suffered and its a long pedal back to the cars.

Thank you all for posting your ride reports. It sounded like loads of fun. It makes me wish I could visit and attempt it. Of course, the hills around here are few so I'd likely be dropped. (must find hills, must find hills).